My dream last night, a rather odd dream, mirrors this task on a semantic level.
I dreamed about the words people speak in a semantic "Alice in Wonderland" way. When spoken out loud, these words left invisible brick trails, detected by this "semantic sand" that only I possessed. These trails were a sort of aura that allowed me to see what sentences were motivated by hidden bias. To detect the bias, I would throw the sand on the trail. If the word trail was free of bias, the "bricks" that lined the path would have no color; I would only see the outline. However, if the word trail was motivated by bias or other hidden motivations, the trail showed up as soft blue bricks.
For example: Someone is discussing the qualifications of Barack Obama (an Illinois senator who in my opinion is poised to be the Democratic Presidential candidate) and they say they don't believe Obama has enough experience to be the POTUS and would not support him as a candidate. I throw sand on their "sentence path" after they are finished speaking. If that person truly believed lack of experience to be the driving factor as to why Obama should not be POTUS, their "word path" would not register any color, signaling it was composed without bias. However, if their words were motivated by their belief that an African-American should not be POTUS or by their (false) belief that Obama is Muslim, their "word path" would show up in blue because their racism and/or prejudices were affecting their judgement of Obama.
Some people feel powerful when they dream about taking over the world or becoming President or saving a loved one from certain death. I felt powerful when I woke up from this dream because I was able to detect a communicator's true intentions. Kenneth Burke, who is my communication theorist idol, theorized that motivation is root of communication because it reveals underlying and sometimes subconscious foundations that people use as the base of the thoughts they choose to orate. Those who can understand the "root" of what communication hold an ultimate power because they have a sort of "x-ray vision" to detect BS. Even well-spoken BS. BS that you never thought was a part of the person's motivation.
Think about the repercussions of this dream. What if we all had the power to unmask a communicator's true intentions? What if we were able to know, without a doubt, that a speaker's opinion was colored by racism, sexism, or other hidden motivations? I am not talking about the times we know a speaker is driven by impure motives, like used-car dealerships or politicians. No one needs semantic dust to detect the BS behind those speakers. I am talking the time Mr. Manager skipped you for the promotion and gave it to Katy in accounting. You thought you were passed over because Katy was there before you or because you were 10 minutes late 2 weeks ago, so you don't really think that much of it. Little do you know, Katy was promoted because she caught Ms. Assistant Manager polishing Mr. Manager's apple last Friday. This has biased his decision. Wouldn't it be nice to know that?
This is the power of persuasion. Just thinking about thepossibilities makes me giddy.
